Hopeless
by Soldier's Shadow
Summary: Nero's life has recently gone to hell following a breakup with Kyrie and has become a devil hunter. After a deadly encounter with a demon, Dante saves him and lets Nero know that all hope isn't lost for him. First DMC fic!


**AN: Hey fellow Devil May Cry fans! I'd like to welcome you all to '**Hopeless' **it's my first DMC fic so far so I hope you guys like it! There's a little bit of a spoilers in this fic regarding DMC4's ending so for all you haven't finished the game yet, watch out.**

**Before I forget, this fic is also a gift to my good friend YaoiSongstress 07, who had given me several awesome gifts in the past. **

**Alright, on with the fic. Hope everyone enjoys!

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Life was definitely not a kind thing and it sure wasn't a fair one. Sometimes it would be kind by giving you what you desire but then it would turn cruel and take away its gifts. Some are lucky enough to keep what's given to them but most are not lucky enough. A prime example of this kind of unlucky person is Nero.

Nero's life had recently taken a turn for the worst. Following the end of Sanctus and his insane plans, Nero thought that he would get to live out his dream; a peaceful life with Kyrie. Their relationship started off well but eventually their relationship began to decline because Kyrie had been donating much more of her time to her faith which caused her to become distant from Nero. In the end Nero simply just got up and left, only leaving a 'goodbye' letter to his once beloved Kyrie for he couldn't muster up the courage to face her.

After leaving Kyrie and Fortuna behind him, Nero decided to become a demon hunter. This new occupation served as a job that he was quite good at and as a way of releasing all of his pent up anger and frustration.

The knight had recently accepted a job to take out a scorpion demon that had been terrorizing the civilians. Nero had finally found the demon on the outskirts of a town and prepared to kill it but this one proved to be a tough quarry.

Nero hit the cold hard ground with a thud after being struck by the scorpion demon's massive tail. The knight eyes widened when he saw the demon raise its tail and brought it down on where he was lying. Luckily he had rolled out of the way to avoid being flattened.

Nero rose up from the ground and let out a frustrated growl. "_This son of a bitch just won't quit!"_ he thought angrily as he took out Blue Rose. Snow was falling from the sky and the air was cold but Nero didn't feel it because his blood was boiling from the intensity of the battle. He fired multiple shots from his revolver at the demon which only seemed to be annoyed by the shots. The demon swung one of its pincers at Nero who jumped over it while firing more rounds from Blue Rose.

"So you like playing rough?!" Nero sneered at the demon as he put Blue Rose away. He reached for the sheath on his back and whipped out the demon blade Yamato. "Fine, I'll play your game!" The knight ran at the demon and slashed at its legs with Yamato. The blade struck its leg, severing it. The scorpion wailed in pain and retaliated by swiping at Nero with one of its pincers. Instead of dodging, Nero stood his ground and once the pincers was close enough, he sliced it off with his sword.

Nero smirked in satisfaction. "Finally, things are starting to go my way," the knight stated bitterly, thoughts of his failed relationship with Kyrie came flooding back to him. Suddenly, before Nero got a chance to react, the demon hit him with its tail, sending him to the ground and knocking Yamato away from him. The scorpion then picked him up with its other pincer and began to squeeze.

The knight cried out in pain as the demon increased its pressure on him in retaliation for severing its pincer. He attempted to bring up his devil bringer to attack but couldn't due to the demon's death hold. Nero felt his breathing strain as the intensity of the squeezing increased.

This was it; this demon was going to take his life. If only he had a chance to see Kyrie again. If only he had a chance to make things right…

Nero's vision began to darken but he was able to make out the demon raising its pincer to deliver the killing blow. He closed his eyes as he saw this but…no pain came. Nero opened his eyes to vaguely see a red blur pass. Following the blur's passing, the demon's pincer fell off. The beast screeched after losing its other pincer and dropped Nero.

Hey kid, it looks like you could use a little help!" a voice called out to the fallen knight. Nero raised his head weakly and searched for the voice's source. Standing there was the demon hunter Dante, with his sword Rebellion brandished. There was the demon's blood on the sword's tip.

"…Dante!" Nero rasped out upon seeing the half-demon. He hadn't seen Dante since he helped take down Sanctus and the Savior in Fortuna, so seeing him here came as a bit of a surprise to Nero.

Dante gave the knight one of his usual cocky smiles. "You've got quite a load on your hands here kid," Dante commented as he eyed the bellowing demon whose arm he had severed. "How 'bout I take this load off your shoulders?" the white haired demon before leaping in the direction of the demon. "Hey pal, over here!"

The demon looked at Dante and roared angrily at him. The beast, though missing two pincers, still had its tail and was prepared to use it to its fullest in order to get revenge on Dante.

The scorpion demon lashed its tail at Dante but he avoided it by rolling to the side. "Come on pal, you can do better than that!" Dante taunted with a smirk on his face. The beast growled and lashed out at Dante again. Dante jumped over the attack and used Rebellion to chop off the tip of the demon's tail. To finish the job off, Dante brought Rebellion down in an overhead slash slicing the scorpion demon into two.

"See kid that's how it's done," Dante declared as he turned to where Nero was. The knight lay on the frozen ground unconscious. The demon hunter walked over to Nero's unconscious form but when he got there he saw something glimmer in the corner of his eye.

He looked over to the left and saw Yamato lying on in the snow. Dante went over to the sword and placed it in a sheath. "Vergil would be so pissed if he saw this," Dante said to himself as he remembered how protective his brother was of his sword and how he cherished it.

After retrieving Yamato, Dante went back to Nero. He bent down and hoisted the knight on to his shoulder. Before leaving Dante briefly contemplated on where he would take his friend. He considered taking him back to Fortuna but decided against it. There must've been a reason why Nero wasn't in his homeland so it may not be the best idea to take him home.

The half-demon snapped his fingers upon realizing the perfect place to take Nero. Devil May Cry. "Alrighty kid, it looks like you'll be crashing at my place".

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The trip back to Devil May Cry was an easy uninterrupted one. Once Dante returned to his shop he had just placed the unconscious Nero onto his couch until he woke up. Dante was currently getting food for when he awakened.

"Yeah, I'd like two pizzas. Both pepperoni and don't forget the olives," Dante ordered into the phone. The voice on the other side of the phone mumbled something. "How much? Eh just put it on my tab," Dante just hung the phone up and looked to where Nero was.

The knight was still unconscious and was breathing normally but Dante could tell something was wrong with him. The half-demon had watched Nero's battle with the scorpion demon from afar for he had been hired to take out the same demon and was surprised to find Nero battling it. During the fight Dante noted that Nero's fighting style was a bit sloppy. The knight's strikes were usually precise and deadly but during the battle his attacks were wild and he fought as if he was frustrated. Dante doubted that the demon was the cause of his distress because he knew that that Nero never lost his cool when fighting a demon.

A groan came from the boy snapping Dante out of his thoughts. "So you back from the dead kid?" Dante asked his friend playfully.

"Dante…?" Nero began groggily as his vision adjusted to the light. Nero sat up from the couch and rubbed his eyes with his forearm. "Where am I?"

"Home sweet home kid, Devil May Cry!" Dante declared proudly as he took a seat in the chair right nest to the couch. "I hope you're hungry kid, pizza's on its way here".

"What's pizza?" Nero asked confused. He had never tasted or heard of anything called pizza on Fortuna.

Dante gave the knight an incredulous look. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that…" The half-demon leaned back into his seat and crossed his legs and placed his arms comfortably behind his head. "So, care to explain something for me?"

"What?"

"Why did I find Yamato lying unceremonially in the snow when I saved your sorry little ass? Didn't I tell you to take good care of it?"

Nero growled and gritted his teeth. "What the hell do you expect me to do when I'm being crushed to near death by a ten foot tall scorpion beast?!" Nero snapped angrily, his temper boiling.

"Relax kid, I was just kidding but you should really take better care of Yamato," Dante responded with a mirthful smirk. "But what I really wanted to know was why you are all the way out here instead of being on Fortuna living out your happily ever after with that Kyrie girl?"

"It wasn't a 'happily ever after' as you put it, happily ever afters are for fairy tales…" Nero stated in a melancholy tone as he directed his eyes to the floor. "Besides me and Kyrie are no longer…together."

"How come?" the half-demon asked curiously. Dante hadn't actually spoken to Kyrie but she looked like a very kind and caring person and Nero seemed to care about her a lot. Maybe looks could've been deceiving…

"We started seeing less of each other and we started to become distant. She was devoting most of her time to her faith; I just couldn't stand it anymore so I just took the coward's way out by leaving without saying good bye to her face. After that I became a demon hunter like you," Nero explained as he continued to stare at the floor. "…But now I feel as though a part of me is missing without her. I feel completely and utterly hopeless. I-I feel as though nobody's got my back anymore!" Nero finished, his head low and his shoulders slumped.

Dante stared at the knight pensively. His friend's story brought back old memories of his family. After his mother Eva had been killed by demons and he had been separated from Vergil, Dante had felt as if he was completely alone in the world. That was until he had met Enzo Ferino, who had helped raise him up to be a demon hunter. Nero on the other hand no longer had anyone.

The half demon reached over from his seat and placed his hand on Nero's shoulder. "Don't worry kid…I got your back," Dante told his friend reassuringly.

Nero looked to the white haired half demon a bit skeptically. "…Do you really mean that? Or is this just another one of your dumbass tricks?!"

Dante smiled and shook his head. "No jokes this time, I'm being as sincere as sincere can be. Besides I could use another partner around here and considering you aren't heading back to your home anytime soon, how'd you like to make my place your place?"

Nero felt a strange warmth inside of him upon hearing Dante's offer. This was the first time in a long time he had ever experienced any kind of real kindness since Kyrie. It felt good. He nodded and his lips curved into a small smile. "Yes…that'd be nice".

"Alright then, go on and make this place like home and then I'll introduce you to the love of my life; pizza," Dante said as he rose up from his seat. "Trust me kid you won't regret meeting it".

"Dante," Nero called after his friend as he got up from the couch.

Dante looked back at him. "Yeah kid?"

"…Thanks".

"No problem kid or should I say partner?" the half demon replied as he walked over to his desk.

Nero couldn't help but smile; things were finally starting to improve for him, thanks to Dante who had reignited his hope that had been extinguished after he left Kyrie. Now he felt as if he was finally back on the right path to living a normal life.

Maybe he wasn't hopeless after all.

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**AN: Well there you go, my first DMC fic! How did it go? Was everyone in character? I felt like the quality kind of declined a bit near the end but that's just me. **

**Enzo Ferino is Dante's friend from the manga and, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't he the one who raised Dante up after the demons killed his family? **

**The slight Dante/Nero in this was included for my friend Songstress and for you Dante/Nero fans out there. I hope to write more DMC fics in the near future and hopefully they'll come out good. For my next one-shot I'm thinking of making it star Vergil, because he's my favorite DMC character outside of Dante of course. What do you guys think I should do?**

**Don't forget to leave a review. I'd greatly appreciate any kind of feedback on this fic! **


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